Category: Northwest trekking

Where did all that glorious sunshine go? One day I’m photographing the bright yellows and reds of Autumn from my front deck, and an hour later the rains come with hurricane force to strip the trees of color. Ah, but they can’t hurt the firs in their variegated green coats. They will not leave me!

I rushed out front to get that last gasp of sun, just in time….

Music has charms to soothe the savage breast, but so does nature and, especially, mountains. I treasure the memory of my days in late August with Jon Pollack and a mutual friend, Carol Johnson, on Mt. Rainier. I’ve written about my hikes in this region before, but each time we explore a different area, so there’s always something new. This year we stayed at White River campground. It’s rich in woodland trails and scenic views, but because of the lack of rainfall, the normally rushing river was down to a trickle and many lakes were reduced to struggling puddles. Frozen Lake on Rainier was anything but frozen for the first time in recent memory. Add to this the smoke-laden, heavy haze that engulfed the peaks, and you become aware of the tenuousness of nature’s balance and how dependant the health of any habitat is on the global community. Nowhere can you see this more than when you get down into the heart of the natural world.

This year we did the three peaks of Burroughs mountain and a day at Owyhigh Lakes. The lakes were really low and very hot, but the entire trip, even on the ridges, called for plenty of sunscreen!

For more Mt. Rainier photos, click Here, Here and Here.

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…so said Percy Bysshe Shelley. And I add to that the ghosts of summer past…one full of beauty, drama, sunshine, and tumultuous events that we, in the computer age, cannot escape. It’s almost too much for one human. So, into this crazy-quilt world I shall weave the threads of my life and tick off the weeks since June with short tales of my summer explorations.

July was a whirlwind trip to my old stomping ground on the East Coast, starting with three weeks at the family cottage on Lake Winnipesaukee…swimming in the world’s most beautiful lake and enjoying the White Mountains, of New Hampshire…and ending up with daughter, Martha, in Summit, New Jersey, where I enjoyed old friends and my fill of theater. For you aficionados I left very few stones unturned. Here’s a partial list: An American in Paris; Wonderful Town; The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night (amazing!); Wicked; and Hand to God. Except for the 98 degree heat, reminiscent of south India, it was marvelous.

Immediately, upon my return to the Northwest in August, Jon Pollack and I headed for a husky hike around Mt. Baker followed by a ridge run around Damfino Lake. During this time we stayed at our favorite campground, Silver Fir.

We had taken a big chance on this weekend, for heavy rain was predicted. Guess what? It couldn’t have been more glorious. Sunshine in the morning over the Nooksack River next to our campsite and clear skies for three days. Hallelujah! We were so sure of possible rain that we even visited Artist Point the night before the hike, just so we could see it in good weather. And we took photos where I had stood next to the snowbank on two previous years. This was the first time in three years that Ptarmigan Ridge wasn’t covered with ice and snow! It was also very interesting that on our way to the climb we encountered more than 65 cyclists heading up the mountain road…laboriously! They, too, were enjoying the balmy weather.

Follow us on the slide show below, from the Austin Pass Visitor Center over the Chain Lakes Loop Trail, which includes Bagley Lake, Herman saddle, Hayes Lake, Mazama Lake, and Iceberg Lake. This is the first year Iceberg hasn’t been frozen during the summer months…rather worrisome to those who depend on snow melt for water. In fact, we were appalled at the way the lakes had receded this past year.

We continued on around Ptarmigan Ridge, encircling Table Mountain and making our way over the Wild Goose Trail. Once at the visitor’s area we walked the two miles downhill to our car through the woods by way of a steep trail of wooden logs. That was the scariest part of the trip for me!

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On August 22^nd we took a day hike up the East Side Trail, starting from the Ohanapecosh campsite in Mt. Rainier National Park, and climbing past the Ohanapecosh hot springs and Silver Falls on the way to the Grove of the Patriarchs.

Here are some scenes along the trail:

Silver Falls

A bridge above the falls. Hang on and look below!

View from the side

View from the top

The trail followed the river all the way….

We crossed over a suspension bridge and into the Grove, which is located ¼ mile past the Stevens Canyon entrance, and is an old growth forest of gigantic Douglas firs (some of which are over 1000 years old), Western hemlock, and Western red cedar, all at least 25 ft. in circumference.  You can walk through this beautiful park on a wooden boardwalk. To me it was like the mythical forest primeval. Take a look.

Not one of Jon’s favorite pastimes

On the other hand, I love to swing on bridges!

Approaching the grove

That’s one big stump!

I was unable to put a caption under the third picture above, but it’s a twin Douglas fir reaching up to the sky.

I’ve finally cleaned up the basement from Hurricane Irene and prepared the house for winter (all those fun things like putting on storm windows, weather stripping old windows, and stowing the lawn furniture), just in time to welcome a glorious Indian Summer. I’m also peeking at Broadway, again, with the first play of the season for me, the comedy Chinglish, about an American businessman who tries to sell his product in China. The language mix-up is a scream, but I found it exhausting to read all the subtitles.

There’s one more bit of the Northwest I want to share with you next time–the Columbia Gorge and the Lewis River…then it’s back to New Jersey and approaching Fall and winter. I’m afraid I neglected certain late spring and early summer activities, like the Mt. Laurel Autoharp Gathering (a huge success, as always), and my family time at the family cottage on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire (a slice of heaven). But there will be other years. Stay tuned….

One of the things I love about Mt. Rainier National Park is the pristine, carefully- designed campsites. I also love the Indian names that greet me at every turn. Three hours from Seattle we drove through such towns as Enumclaw and Nachez to the Ohanapecosh campsite (that takes a little doing). It was totally full, but four miles south was La Wis Wis, where we found a spacious, quiet spot with water close by and lots of tall pines, cypress, and privacy. The sky was very blue and the clouds puffy and white. A raging river tumbled over rocks not far from our site, and all around were mountains, with an eastern view of Rainier quite different from my previous visits, when I camped on its western flank

On this second morning we headed for Sunrise, another beautiful visitor’s center from which we started climbing to Mt. Fremont lookout (7200 ft.).

en route Sunrise

Sunrise Lodge

Frozen Lake, the water supply for Sunrise

Rainier in the clouds as we began our hike to the lookout….

Campsites at lakes along the way

On the top of this peak, steamboat prow, is Camp Sherman, from which you start up the summit of Rainier

Not my favorite stretch of trail!

Ditto!

This is where you’d go if you tripped….straight down. It’s much steeper than it looks

Berkeley Park, a camping spot down below

Views galore along the way

On top of Mt. Fremont…at last

Can you imagine surviving a winter up here?

I made it and even climbed the tower. It gives me the creeps, but the view was wonderful. I held tight with my sweaty hands!

360 degrees of incredible views

We heard a crash when passing Frozen Lake on our return. It was a mini-avalanche. Notice the waves on the lake.

On the way home we drove on the Stevens Canyon road past Reflection Lake

Home at last! Our campsite, which could surely use a housekeeper….

Jon did all the chopping

Not bad for a woodland stir fry, eh?

What a way to end a perfect day!

I’m headed for El Paso, Texas, on Sunday for dental work in Juarez, Mexico, but when I get back I’ll finish part 3 and 4.

…where the sky is clear, the mountains surround and protect me, and the only sound is the wind, the birds, and the rumble of an occasional distant avalanche left over from a record winter snowfall.

Yes, I want to leave my soaking, moldy, hurricane–battered basement and settle into a yurt in Mongolia or the plains of Tibet, trading my car for an amenable camel (I don’t think they make one). And I never, again, want a basement! Desperate, you say. Kind of. But, honestly, I have very few complaints compared to friends in next-door Millburn, or in Vermont and Pennsylvania.

I was lucky to return from the Northwest the day before the hurricane struck, so that, at least, I took up the rugs. It was bad enough to paddle in water up to my shins at 6 AM, without being faced with floating carpets. Lessons learned: 1) Sump pumps and French drains, no matter how expensive, don’t work when the power is out, and 2) Never store precious files and photos and memorabilia in the basement in cardboard boxes or even metal files.

As for insurance, which I have in spades (and have never made a claim), don’t get me started! Evidently a power outage is not covered. This was considered a flood, not a heavy rain. Funny, I didn’t see any rivers rising to my door, but I did see an absence of electricity for 20 hours, during which rainwater kept rising in my basement.   I do not consider this a flood, but a failure of a vital service normally provided by our local power company. The insurance companies, however, do, so I was denied coverage. At this point my only friend is a can of Lysol and a dehumidifier. Oh, yes, and I shall spend many hours wielding a paintbrush…as soon as the walls dry out.

I’m way behind on summer news, so will start at the end and work back. I will tell my story in pictures. They are far better purveyors of the glory of summer than a string of fancy adjectives.

For five days Jon Pollack, yes, the same Jon I met trekking the Annapurna circuit in 1999, camped in Mt. Rainier National Park. I found it exciting to hike over snow at this time of year just so long as we stayed away from cliffs. As you know, I don’t like “exposure,” but I’m getting better, especially on the ascent. It’s coming down, when I can see how easily I could be hurtled into space should I trip, that gives me the Willies.

View of Rainier from trailhead with Little Tahoma peak on the left

That’s mighty deep snow for August!

Glacial lakes along the way

And lots of avalanche lilies

…and bear grass

Blossoms like tiny bells

pristine lake and camping area off the trail

A perfect spot for lunch on the way down

A looming presence as we headed back to camp after our first day on the mountain

We spent one day doing the Snow Lake hike in the shadow of majestic Unicorn Peak near Paradise on Rainier. This was the first time I’d seen the magnificent new Henry Jackson Visitor’s Center, named after one of my favorite Washington senators, “Scoop” Jackson, who did so much to help protect the wilderness and, like John Muir before him, make sure that it would be protected for generations to come.

It was, indeed, a continuing “Paradise” of wild flowers

Indian paint brush

And now, put them all together…it’s not easy for such fragile flowers to live in this rugged environment

Goodbye, Paradise

This is just the beginning of the saga of the summer. Stay with me, folks, and I’ll tell you about more cool trails in Rainier and the Gifford-Pinchot National Forest and nine days starting in Walla Walla and exploring the Columbia River Gorge and the Lewis River with its numerous waterfalls….